Chapter Text
Jon wasn’t sure if he ever planned to be seen or if it were just accidents and bad timing. More than twenty times of bad timing might be a stretch. But the first time was definitely not by his choice.
The door in the wall let out a low groan as he opened it. He had to duck as he went through the four inch tall opening. Jon closed it back up and walked past the toaster it was hidden behind. His eyes went to the window first, coated in raindrops. The rain was getting heavier and the borrower wasn’t fond of the fact. Storms were bad luck.
Jon looked over the huge kitchen. Moonlight shone through the window illuminating the whole room in a cold blue light. The LED lamp in his hand had warmed up a bit and he turned it off. He slung his backpack down from his shoulders and kneeled beside it. Fixating the lamp on the side, he got his hands full with his climbing gear instead, which got a bit tangled in there. His fingers went along the rope as he pulled it out into a ring, until his fingers traced the cool metal of his hook. He mentally went through his borrowing route for tonight again. Maybe he could get a tea bag if he had the chance. With a freshly opened box and the amount that is drunk, the human shouldn’t notice one missing. Suddenly thunder ran out and Jon jumped. His eyes shot to the window with a glare, as if he wanted to scold the weather for scaring him. But it just drummed against the glass pane in response, loud as ever. He shook his head. It startled him and Jon’s heart was pumping hard, so he almost wanted to blame the tremors he felt through his body on the aftershock.
Almost.
He whipped around and dropped the rope. The dim light of the night illuminated a huge figure, looming above him. Jon started trembling as it felt like the air got sucked out of his lungs. His eyes went wider following the arm until it ended on a hand holding a jar. Jon ran. He tried to at least. He turned around and tripped over his rope. Scrambling to his feet, he didn’t get far until the jar slammed down on top him, making him run into the glass. The awful loud sound of the glass hitting the counter ran out and Jon turned back around in pure horror. A hand was on top of the jar, holding it down.
His breathing got faster even as the hand left the jar for a moment. Jon got to his knees. He knew he couldn’t lift the damn thing, but he had to try. His hands shook too much to get a grip on the edge and he withdrew them when he saw a hand wrap around the glass. Backing off to the part where it wasn’t behind him, his senses all, but overwhelmed, he almost didn’t notice something slid under the lips of the jar. He did when the jar was lifted up and he felt nauseous as he went up with it, feeling something solid under his feet.
The moonlight was as calm and cold as ever, while Jon felt like he would crumble, as he stared at his captor. Another thunder ran out and lightning flashed across the room. Before he could take in any details through the warped glass his world tilted. The human might have said something then, but Jon was too occupied with panic. He was on the side of the jar, then sliding down to the bottom. For a moment he saw down past his feet and onto the floor, far below, and got the terrible thought that he might be dropped, shattering the glass alongside with him. But then the jar was set down on the counter and the light turned on.
His eyes adjusted to the brightness, his head tilted back to watch the human remove a piece of cardboard from the top of the jar and then stare down at him. Blocking out the light, the human towered over him, taking up most of Jon’s vision. His huge terrible eyes stared him down and he could feel the gaze nailing him to the spot. He couldn’t tell whether his legs were frozen solid or about to give out. Either way he kept standing, back pressed to the glass behind him. He had been found and trapped. Like an animal. A bit of loathing crept up beyond his growing terror of what would happen next.
“Woah.”
The human let out a long breath, as if he was the one shaken up. His voice was quiet, for human levels at least. “What are you..”
They stayed like that, staring back at each other. One with fear, the other with interest. Jon couldn’t properly watch his pupils through the glass, but it was like he could feel them taking in his whole body. It made him feel even more small and powerless.
“Can you talk?”
Jon’s heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his throat and he wanted nothing more than to be out of sight. His mind was clear enough though, that he decided he should keep his mouth shut. Feeding the curiosity he saw in those giant eyes would just make things worse for him. So, his mouth stayed closed, his back flush with the glass as his chest heaved up and down. Meanwhile the human looked concerned.
“Can you… talk ?” He repeated the question, really drawing out the last word. Jon felt mocked and would have shot him a glare if he wasn’t scared out of his mind.
“Hm?”
Silence.
“I guess uh- Can you even understand me?”
As much as Jon may look like a scared and trapped animal, he didn’t want to seemingly share the same level of intelligence. So with some hesitation, he nodded.
Much to the borrower’s dismay, his eyes lit up. “Great! Great, good. That’s something. I…”. His lips formed a thin line as his brows furrowed. He looked up for a moment, making Jon only look at the underside of his chin, before the staring resumed.
“Maybe I should take you out of the jar.”
Even though Jon saw it coming he didn’t expect the drop of his heart as a hand reached out to him, into the open mouth of the jar. It was slow, and if Jon wasn’t filled by sheer panic, he may have even described it as careful. But as soon as it touched him on his side he gritted his teeth and started kicking around. His whole body felt more tense than he thought possible, his hands shooting out to push himself away from the touch while one foot landed a solid kick on a finger. He doubted it did anything, but to his surprise it shot back.
“Woah, woah! It’s alright! I’m not going to hurt you.” It sounded sincere enough, but not right now to the borrower.
Jon’s legs felt weak and he collapsed, sliding down the glass. He might have let out a whimper.
“It’s alright.” The human’s hands were raised, like he was trying to show he held no weapons. It did nothing to soothe Jon who’s eyes darted between the two in panic.
“It’s-…” His eyes squinted and he paused. “ Can I pick you up?”
Jon shook his head so hard and fast it hurt.
“Okay! Okay, sorry.” His hands finally lowered and got out of Jon’s vision. It did little to soothe him, but at least his eyes could fix on the human’s face again. He looked like he was thinking. “Hmm, that might work…”
The borrower flinched when a hand wrapped around the jar. Jon looked around in panic as it slowly started tilting back. He was afraid the jar would be lifted up, but he could get out like this! His eyes locked with the way to his entrance.
As if taken over by instincts, he didn’t even give thought to the idea before he slid down the glass, practically leaped out of the opening. Jon didn’t land on his feet so he had to scramble up on those, before going into a sprint.
“Hey! W-wait!”
His hands shook hard in his panic and he almost couldn’t manage to open the door. By all means he should have already been grabbed with how long it took him, but he did open it and got inside. Once he was far enough away from the human he felt such a huge relief wash over him his legs finally gave out.
It took a bit before Jon could clearly think again and much more time until he could say he had calmed down. And when he did he noticed his backpack was gone. He put it down before he got spotted. As much as Jon should and wanted to leave, he didn't have a second backpack to carry enough things, nor enough materials to craft one. Plus he was out borrowing new food so what he had at home right now was sparse to call it the least.
He did push it out as much as he could. Going out and getting seen again, it terrified him. But food ran out and eventually he had to. He mourned the loss of his backpack. His climbing gear was lost also, and sure he had spares, but he was more sad about losing his lamp. A little LED lamp he had gotten some time ago and rewired so he could travel around the dark space between the walls. It was such a lucky find and the borrowing of a lifetime.
So he was very surprised when he left the walls and saw it again. With spare climbing gear on his belt, he had made his way out for more food and there, on the spot where he had his encounter, was his backpack. Cautiously he made his way over to it. It seemed intact and Jon smiled when he saw his lamp and the climbing gear.
He didn’t plan to be meeting the human a second time. Of course he didn’t want to. Though he could have checked twice if he had gone to sleep. The light switch turned on and his eyes readjusted, making contact with the other’s once more.
They both stood frozen in place. Like last time, Jon’s pulse and breathing picked up.
Jon was the first to move. Painfully slow, with shaking legs, he took steps forward until he could lean down and pick up his bag, keeping his eyes on the human at all times. His mouth was open and it looked like he wanted to say something. But as soon as Jon had it in his arms he made a run for it back home and was gone.
He hugged it close to his chest when he was in his rooms again, a sense of comfort, when he noticed a weird crackling noise. A piece of paper, slit into the side. He eyed it and took it out.
Sorry for scaring you.
I hope you like blueberries.
-Martin
It was very neat writing that, to a human’s scale, must have been tiny. Jon scoffed at the first line, almost broke out into laughter. It felt empty, but the second line made him furrow his eyebrows. He opened his backpack to find some tin foil looking back at him, unwrapping it revealed two whole blueberries. Huh. The human, or Martin was his name, must have opened his bag and put them inside.
Opened his bag? Jon’s breathing hitched and he quickly searched through the rest of his bag, but with a sigh he concluded everything was still there.
He ended up not eating the blueberries. It wouldn’t make sense for them to be poisoned and they looked untouched. If Martin wanted Jon dead he could do it a lot quicker and easier than food poisoning. But the longer he thought about it the more unsure he got, so he threw them out. It’s a shame, they did look quite tasty.
The third time Jon got seen he could blame it on the weather. One rain hit after the other ever since his first encounter and Jon’s conspiracy of storms bringing back luck seemed ever confirmed. It was the right season so it wasn’t usual, but Jon still cursed the sky for tormenting him. So even if he packed up all his things to leave, he was stuck in the meantime. So his supplies diminished and going out in the rain with minimal amounts of food would be beyond stupid.
But so was ending up face to face with a human in a cabinet.
In shock Jon dropped the cracker under his arm and backed off. Either his luck had run dry, he had a death wish, or both for this to keep happening. His breathing picked up like the last time. But his mind felt a bit clearer. So even if he could make a sprint to this door he stood still, only vaguely shifting on the spot. Because the human was a lot closer now and something in his head reminded him that he was in his reach.
“You.. you can take that if you want to! I got more than enough.” Martin let out an awkward chuckle as he pointed at the cracker. Jon made no move to get it.
“Well uh… how are you doing? Or- Oh! Did you like the blueberries? I can give you some more if you wanted.”
Jon didn’t nod or shake his head. If he said yes he might be forced to eat some and if he said no it might make him angry. Martin sighed.
“Not much of a talker, I guess..”
Silence.
Martin’s eyes kept staring at him, but he made no move to grab Jon. He asked a few more questions, some of which Jon answered like if he had made his backpack himself (yes he did). And others he didn't, which Martin would luckily drop when he didn’t answer. Being interrogated wasn’t half as bad as being touched and Jon actually found himself calming down. He was by no means alright and incredibly tense, but the terror was turned down.
The human eventually looked at his phone and his eyebrows shot up.
“Oh okay, I have something I have to do. So I’ll uh..” He reached out for the cabinet door and Jon flinched at the hand’s movement. “You know what, I’ll just leave it open. I’ll- I’ll see you around, little buddy!”
He was clicking something on his phone and left the room.
Jon stood still a bit longer. He didn’t appreciate the nickname, but he was being let go. He grabbed the cracker and went back home.
After dinner Jon fell on his bed, arms behind his head as he stared towards the ceiling. Being in his thirties he has seen enough of humans, though nothing close to the encounters he has had. He has seen them be just as bad as his grandma had taught him. But this one was different. Sort of at least. He did try to pick him up, but after Jon said he couldn’t, had made no move to do so. Jon’s brows furrowed. Wait. Did he actually listen to him?
He thought back to their encounters. He had 3 whole ones and was still alive, not harmed even. Martin was still a human for course, but so far he had been respectful of Jon’s boundaries. He put a hand on the side that Martin had touched. Turned to said side in his bed, his conflicting thoughts continued well into the night.
The fourth time it really was Jon’s decision to be seen.
He still had to leave his home so he was cutting up food and accidentally cut his forearm. Quite bad as well. Bad luck or just clumsiness, he had run out of any disinfectant a while ago and those were one of the harder things to come by. With water he could clean it, but he didn’t want to risk anything. Jon knew the flat well, but had never been able to find any. It was probably hidden somewhere hard to reach for him.
So Jon was putting Martin to the test. It might have been stupid. Jon remembered the first night they met as he wrapped his wound up, including the jar. No it was definitely stupid. He had shown so far to not make another move towards the borrower, but he was still a human, you can’t trust them like that. But if Jon asked him for supplies and he delivered, he might consider it.
He was on a bookshelf this time, looking across the living room. He had felt a bit better in the cabinet last time, where they were more eye to eye. So he waited until Martin entered the room, who apparently was too oblivious to notice him. Jon cleared his throat, but he gave no reaction. He opened his mouth and thought about shouting, but was still unsure about unveiling his ability of speech so instead, he stomped.
Martin jerked up and looked around. His eyes still missed Jon so he stomped again, twice. This time they caught him and a smile formed on his lips.
“Oh hello, it’s you again!”
He turned and walked towards the bookshelf, keeping a distance Jon was grateful for. But still he immediately regretted his plan. Putting himself willingly in front of the eyes of a human? What was he thinking? He backed off a bit as he felt his heart pick up. Even so, he went here for something, so he lifted his sleeve to reveal the crude cloth wrapped around his arm and simply pointed to it.
Martin’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh god, are you- you’re hurt! Do you need help?”
Jon found his jaw had dropped slightly. He didn’t think he would be as smart to figure it out so quickly. He nodded.
“Okay, Okay I… I’ll get something.” He pointed behind him. “Just stay here.”
Jon did, questioning his plan again, and Martin came back with a red box, which he opened and rummaged through.
“What are you going to need…” He looked up at Jon. “Is it just a wound? Like nothing's broken?”
He nodded.
“Oh good.. and I am guessing that you can.. do this yourself?”
He nodded again.
“Okay good, I’ll just give you some stuff then.”
And he did. Alcohol wipes, band aids and a bit of bandage roll Martin cut off for him. Jon flinched and walked backwards when his hand got near him to set the things down on the shelf. Once he was done, and Jon waited a moment longer just to be sure, he gathered them all under his arms and gave Martin a single nod, getting ready to leave.
He shot him a smile. “Hope that will help. I guess I will… see you around?”
Jon looked down and didn’t want to promise anything, but he knew himself that the answer was yes, so he nodded again. Martin’s smile grew bigger and he stood in the same spot, until Jon waved goodbye and disappeared behind the books. It didn’t escape his knowledge that the box laid open on the floor for several days after.